The Place Where Her Heart Lives
by liferegrets
Summary: Within her lives a promise she cannot keep. Sasusaku.


_"Naruto. Sasuke. The chance of her coming out of this mission alive is less than one percent."_

* * *

It hurts to think about it.

But she will do it, and she knows she will, for the sake of the village, for the sake of Tsunade, for the sake of Kakashi, and for the sake of Naruto, and Sasuke, she will do it.

But that doesn't erase the fact that it hurts.

Knowing that others will hurt because of her, it hurts.

* * *

Naruto looks at the door.

Shuffling his blond spikes with his bandaged hands, he waits for her.

His hands are in his pocket, fumbling around the marbles and other pieces of junk he had collected but had forgotten to throw out. His expression conveys a face of calm, although his emotions say otherwise, and he is scared, and nervous.

The ANBU in front of the door look at him, confused, wondering why he wouldn't go in like he always does, and instead stands dumbly at the door.

He doesn't know what to say, but when she comes, he knows that words will flow with the detection of her presence, and Naruto just hopes that he will be able to keep his cool. He doesn't want to reprimand her harshly, because it gave her absolutely no other alternative, but he didn't want her to give up that easily either.

He will save her, like he always does.

He worries that he will yell, and scream, but worse, he worries that he will make her cry again.

'_Don't you understand, Sakura-chan?' _He thinks.

'_It's not worth it.' _His mind is crying now.

'_it's not worth it at all.' _

His mind screams.

* * *

He hears her footsteps approaching nearer and nearer, and feels her chakra around him.

His fumbling hands stop fidgeting, and he glances towards her direction to give her a fake reassuring smile. Taking his hand out of his pocket he waves at her, and sees her sadly smiling in return.

"Hi Sakura-chan!"

His voice does not waver, but his heart does, and it feels as if it was going to tear him apart. He is scared, and he knows he'd rather be on the battlefield, fighting with dozens of clones against Haku, Kimimaro, or even Orochimaru, than be here.

"Naruto…"

He watches as she stops in front, and he looks down at her, and realizes how small she had gotten. Only on the battlefield, when she is breaking the ground with her fist and sending enemies over the horizon does she look strong. When she actually stands in front of him, he realizes how fragile and petite she looks, and he becomes more scared.

Naruto knows that she is looking at him for an answer, a reason why he is standing here waiting for her and not going in himself, and he looks at her eyes, and knows that deep down she knows why he is waiting, and they both are scared, waiting to see who will ignite the flame first.

"You can't go."

Naruto watches as she looks up to stare at his adamant azure eyes, defiant of her predictable response. He knows immediately that she knows what he is talking about, and he musters the remaining courage he has left.

"Sakura-chan, you don't—"

"It's my decision, Naruto."

He sees the piercing gaze that is staring back at him, and he is scared, scared that he will be unable to change her mind. He was different from them. He saw victory where others saw defeat, he saw hope in hopelessness, and he had faith where failure thrived.

But now he is scared, because he sees nothing but the fear of her final answer.

"Don't you understand, Sakura-chan?"

But still, he tries.

'…_I love you.'_

He looks at her for understanding, searches her for reason, not knowing that she is doing the same also. His fists clench when he sees no change in expression, no change in the glint of her eyes.

"I'm doing this for you."

Her answer surprises him, and he looks at her defiant green eyes, and for the first time he sees all of her pain and sorrow, along with her happiness, and sees how much she wants to save it for him, for Sasuke, not knowing that they too, would do anything to protect her.

"Naruto."

He looks at her from her gentle call of his name, and sees her small smile, and knows that he was defeated. Just like he had once lost Sasuke, he will lose her also, even when she is right in front of his eyes.

"…to protect. Isn't that your motto?"

He looks away, his eyes starting to water, and in response she grabs his arm, still smiling at him.

"…it's not funny, Sakura-chan."

Her fingers are still wrapped around his arm.

"Good, 'cause it wasn't supposed to be."

He looks at her, still wondering how she can joke if she was joking at all and seeing how she can in her situation.

"Listen to me, Naruto."

She tightens her grip on his arm, and continues to stare at him in the eyes, looking for a response. In turn he gazes at her eyes, observes the defiant sparkle that was once present in their mission to retrieve Sasuke.

'_I would do anything for you.'_

"I would do anything for both of you."

She suddenly appears so tall, so strong, and he wonders how she had grown so fast.

And then he cries, not in the way that Sakura had when she had thought Sasuke had been killed by Haku, not in the way that Sasuke did when he saw his family's murder, and not in the way Kakashi tears when he visits his friend's grave, but in the way that his tears fall out on her face, one by one, so that a patch of his heart will be etched onto hers, and he hopes that it will protect her on her way.

In the way where her heart deeply touches his with so much fervor and emotion and uncontainable love that he cannot stop the tears and he feels as if it was going to explode.

"Sakura-chan."

He grips her by the shoulders, but she is not surprised, only waiting for his answer, which surprises her. He is scared, he had expected himself to say more, to yell more, to scream more, but had instead found himself speechless, unable to argue with her unwavering will.

"Whatever you do…"

He takes her into his arms, fearing that it may be the last time he will be able to hold her like this. He does not care if she still loves Sasuke, because even though she does not feel the same way, he knows that in her heart, the love is different, but equal.

"Please don't die."

'…_please.'_

* * *

Sasuke sits in the hospital room covered with white. Everything is quiet except that he hears him yelling at her outside the door.

He knows what they are talking about, and doesn't have to watch to see the emotions on their faces, to see the idiot crying in front of her.

In a way, he understands, and for a second he cannot breathe. He cannot fathom her going alone on a mission without him to protect her. He knows that he had been in the Sound for three consecutive years, but regardless he had been rather at peace knowing that she was safe in Konoha with the idiot and Kakashi.

Trying to get himself away from thinking what he will say to her, which is most likely nothing, he thinks of Kakashi's response to her decision.

He knows…deep inside that mask, that he will hurt. That deep inside that unreadable façade, Kakashi will be hurting, deeply.

For some reason he thinks back to the missions, and knows that Kakashi was extra careful in making sure Sakura was safe, away from harm, only letting her get hurt if she was demanding.

He understands, because he feels it too, and he knows for a fact that Naruto feels it also. His instinct ran in an order in which it was her first and his body second. In a way it was even Team 7's motto.

'_Protect Sakura.'_

He watches a petal fall off the flower that she had left in the vase two days ago, and realizes that they had stopped talking.

The door opens and she enters the room, closing the door behind her.

"Hi Sasuke-kun."

She is so small, he thinks, even though it is him sitting down on the bed looking up at her.

All of a sudden he is afraid, afraid to have her so far away in unknown land, away from those that protect her, away from Kakashi, from Naruto, and from himself.

When she sits on the stool next to his bed, he turns his face down, not looking at her, and knows that she is looking at him, worried at his sudden actions. So close to death and she still worries about him.

"…Sasuke-kun—"

"Don't go."

He surprises himself, and realizes he wants it so bad enough to sacrifice his pride to beg someone of something. But he realizes, just like he had when he had left Konoha, that he had left his heart with her, and if she were to die he was to die also. He also realizes that he was not as brave as Naruto, nor as Kakashi, who would be able to find the courage to live on even after her presumed death.

'…_I…can't.'_

"Live."

He looks up, surprised at her answer. She had been doing this often now, as if she was able to read his thoughts…or maybe he was too predictable, to the point where speech was unnecessary to her.

She finds his hand and grips it, her small fingers intertwining around his and he looks at her face, slightly, serenely, smiling.

His face betrays no emotion, but his heart screams for yearning. He has never wanted so much in his life, and he feels that his yearning of avenging his family was almost nothing compared to this.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun."

He looks at her once more, and watches as tears fall out of her face, one by one, and he takes his hand to gently wipe it off of her face. He takes his other hand from hers and puts both of his hands on opposite sides of her head, and leans his forehead into his.

It was an ancient ceremonial technique used by the Uchiha elders to compress chakra onto another. Although it can be a protectant, it was used more so to signify unity between the wielders, and now was it used in a desperate attempt to bring someone back safe.

'_Don't you understand, Sakura?'_

"Thank you."

His eyes widen, and he is finally placed in her shoes, three years ago, when he had left her on a cold bench, except now, she will be leaving him in a warm bed.

Her forehead was cool against his, and he felt suddenly peaceful void of the bursts of his heart he had suffered a moment before, and he feels her tears against his pale cheeks, and his hands fall down to clasp around hers.

_'I'm not saying goodbye.'_

* * *

_"Don't you understand, Naruto? I won't die, I will live through you."_

"_I just don't want you to be afraid alone."_

"_Sakura. Don't go."_

* * *

ima made…arigatou.

_Thank you for everything._


End file.
